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Let’s Talk about the Festival of Quilts and the Free Sewing Patterns!

We’ve just returned from a very inspiring Festival of Quilts in Birmingham. We consider ourselves “Quilting Virgins” and this was the first time we’ve ever attended this show. Needless to say, we were blown away by high quality of the show as well as the creativity that exists in this field! There were so many amazing works of textile art that we could feature here on our blog, unfortunately we don’t have the space, but here are a few quilts that stood out:

Middle East Quilt Artists Connections “The Refugees”

Joanna Soloch “Tulips”

Yoojin Kim “Transparency and Transition”

Ann Goddard “On the Brink”

And here are a few images from the stands that were selling our fabrics during the show. Considering it was our very first time, we have to say that we were very pleased with the results and look forward to going back next year!

Fat Quarters from Lady Sew and Sew. Click image for more.

Cotton Patch’s display of our fabrics

Lady Sew and Sew’s display of our fabrics. Click on image for more.

Quilt kits from Cotton Patch – click on photo for more.

Here is today’s YouTube episode, which is an overview of our fabric collection.

We are still working our distribution in USA, Canada, Australia etc and we ask you to be patient, as soon as we know more, we will announce everything on social media and our blog.

Dream Knitting Cruise from Sydney to New Zealand. Yes!!! We are delighted to announce that we are returning to Australia and visiting New Zealand in 2020. Join us for this amazing 12 day, 11 night Knitting Cruise that departs from Sydney on March 27th, 2020 and visits all the amazing sights in New Zealand! More information is available here and here.

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37 comments

Hi,
I am relatively new to quilting and this one has me puzzled.
A question about ‘On the brink’ please. It looks like rolled up bits of material hanging off sticks. Was it an actual quilt or some sort of art statement? It doesn’t look very cuddly.
Cheers,
Lyn

In the Prize list, she won a first under Fine Art. There is a whole category of Modern Quilts where you will see incredibly beautiful quilts that have nothing to do with traditional patterns. They are meant for the wall, not the bed. It does seem odd at first but then, as you get into fabric art, it opens up a whole new dimension.

Hi, I love your fabrics and hope to make the bag, however, I live in the US and we do not use the metric system here. Would it be possible to list inches and yards on the pattern too for us dummies who can’t convert from meters and centimeters at all. Thank you.

As an older American I also haven’t converted to metric, embarrassingly. If a pattern is in metric I use the tools available to figure it out. The rest of the world is way ahead of us. My grandchildren are learning the metric system, so maybe the U.S. will catch up someday.

Hi, we use both in the UK and there are great conversion tables on the internet that would help you. Or there are tapes/rulers you could order too. That way you’ll never be stuck! I find them very useful as both measurements are on the same tool and so I can follow any pattern.
Hope that helps

I grew up using inches and feet, and now use both imperial and metric, (which, like counting money, uses multiples of ten.) It’s really pretty easy with sewing, and less trouble than you’d think. Don’t be afraid of it. Get a metric tape measure and ruler and just use that to measure. If you convert a pattern from metric, you’ll end up having to use fraction of an inches, or if you round things up or down you won’t be using what was designed. The beauty of metric is that there are no fractions to add, so it’s my preferred measuring method for sewing. If you want to get a rough idea in your head of the size, 10 cm is about 4 in., 30 cm is about 12 in., and a metre about 3 inches more than a yard. After a while, you just get a sense of how big something is in metric. I still use inches when knitting, but funnily enough, I use 10ths of an inch instead of factions for the smaller bits. How crazy is that!

See if you can find a measuring tape that has both measurements: one on each side. I grew up with imperial but we switched half way through my schooling to metric. So I measure in inches and yards, then look on the other side for the metric. 🙂

You can either purchase a measure tape that has both inches and cms or you can use conversion tabloes from the internet. You can even type “how many inches is 10 cms” on google and you will get the number immediately, so there is no need for you to do the math.

Thank you for coming to the NEC for Festival of Quilts. I only heard about it because you had mentioned it and it was amazing – so glad I went. It was not a quilt festival, it was an art festival (using the medium of fabric) and a total pleasure.
I wanted to see your fabric ‘in the flesh’ and the videos do not do it justice – vibrant colours that pop out like eating candy jelly beans in a meadow – It will bring me joy to use your lovely designs, not up to quilts but a cushion, occasional chair seating and bunting will occur.
You were as humble and approachable as you are in your videos. I only said a brief hello but you were so gracious to everyone, I think you caused many smiles over this last weekend.

I know there is an overlooked , but problem : Dyscalculia , where people have extreme difficulty understanding numbers. As many as 6 % of the population suffers from it. It has absolutely nothing to do with IQ 😉
But if that is not the case for you, you can use one of the sites on the net, which transfers cm. to inces etc.

I love the fabrics and the blues are my favorite. I couldn’t wait for it to come to the states so I ordered the 9 patch kit from the Cotton Patch! It has not arrived yet. Thank you for the free patterns!

My sister Jane is sending me some the gorgeous main blue fabric that she bought at the Festival. I am in the USA and look forward to getting more of the coordinating fabrics. My sister said you were both fabulous!

Arne and Carlos, I love your new fabric collection. My first idea is to use enough fabric without cutting, a table cloth with one of the main fabrics. The blue floral and the white are my favorites for a table cloth. Your unsquare pillows are a great size, and the bag is beautiful.
So happy to see you in the green house, hopefully it will be cool soon for your comfort. Looking forward to seeing the fall colors, too. The Geraniums are a great back drop. I love geraniums as they survive the heat here in Idaho, 101 degrees f. today. You gave me the spark of ambition to take some starts of geraniums this year for many more.

Living in Toronto means being able to ship to Canada without worrying about duty, at least. So I have happily ordered some fabric from The Cotton Patch to make a tote bag using a favourite old quilt square. I will post it when it’s done.

Hi Arne and Carlos, I met you at the Festival of Quilts! Was a little bit star struck and exclaimed in surprise when Carlos turned up after thinking ‘I don’t remember Carlos looking like this?’ as the manager had taken your chair (yes, taken your chair!!). The ‘I know’ video is this one: https://youtu.be/IxVxsmP58_o so now ‘I know’ I knit socks from the top, however have found your more recent ‘perfect sock’ video so will be trying this option out soon. So glad you’re designing fabric, it is so beautiful!! All the very best and thanks for bringing a lot of sunshine and smiles to my family!!

I am totally delighted with your line of fabrics and all that can be created with them. Ah, quilting! Got to love quilts. Do continue to expand and encourage creativity. I’m a Scot living in California and truly enjoy your YouTube, blogs, and patterns.

Hi Arne & Carlos. Thanks for sharing your patterns. I’m also excited to see that you’re coming down to our side of the world next year. Just wondering if you’re planning any public appearances in New Zealand outside of your cruise itinerary?
I realise I may have to content myself with just waving excitedly from the dockside in Akaroa (stunning choice of destination by the way).